This letter, written from Lawrence, Kansas Territory by Samuel Tappan, began with small talk about his personal life. Tappan quickly moved on, however, to the political affairs of the area. Apparently, Charles Robinson and James Lane were encouraging the free state population to vote in the next election regarding the Lecompton Constitution. They were planning on holding a free state convention in a couple of weeks to decide if this was the best course of action. Tappan believed that if free state men voted in the upcoming election, it would be a tacit acceptance of slavery. He was also disappointed that the Topeka government had failed, blaming its collapse on the fact that it had been too concerned with weighing "the chances of success in Washington." The free state territorial legislature had just opened its session in Lecompton.

The current URL is http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/~imlskto/cgi-bin/index.php?SCREEN=show_document&document_id=101926&SCREEN_FROM=show_location&county_id=13.
This file was last modified September 12 2013 04:09:26 PM.